Life Goes On
by dancing-in-the-silverain
Summary: What does Ally do after Tyler dies? See what happens one year, ten years and seventy years after that fatal day. Bittersweet one-shot. I think it has a happy ending. Please read and review! Ally/Caroline friendship and Ally/Tyler.


**Okay, so really I should be doing a million other things right now but I got this idea stuck in my head so I had to right it down. I hope you like it! Please review after reading it!**

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**11****th**** September 2002**

Ally Craig stood over Tyler Hawkins's gravestone. In the wind her blonde hair was getting blown around and then a few strands got attached to the tears that streamed silently down her face. She didn't know she was being watched and she didn't care but if she had known who had been watching, then she would've cared.

One-year, she thought, a whole year since it happened. Most people had recovered and moved on. Most, but not all. Ally certainly hadn't, and she knew a lot of other people hadn't either. After, _it_, happened, Ally had distanced herself from almost everyone, in fact from everyone apart from Caroline.

Now, another person joined in watching Ally as she cried over Tyler's grave. But the second person didn't stay as silent as the first.

"Ally."

But Ally didn't hear because now she had lost all of her carefully made boundaries and walls and she couldn't stop the heart-wrenching sob that escaped her lips. After the first one was another and another. Her knees buckled under her and she tried to hold onto the gravestone for support but her hand slipped off and she fell to the ground.

Ally didn't know how long she stayed like that, curled up in a ball, sobbing, her nails dragging down on the grass and mud in the rain, but eventually she felt a pair of small arms around her and she gripped onto them for all that she was worth.

"Oh, Ally, what am I going to do with you, eh?"

The second they spoke, Ally recognised the voice and tried to stop her sobbing for her.

"C-C-Caroline, y-you s-s-shouldn't s-s-see t-this," Ally managed to get out and then she got a slightly better hold of herself and continued. "You already have s-so much to d-deal with."

But Caroline stayed put and outright refused to move and after a while Ally lost the strength and determination to make her. However, Ally decided that if Caroline was staying then she had to get on top of her sobbing. It took a while but eventually Ally was simply crying silently because no matter how hard she tried, the tears would not vanish.

"Ally, Ally I think that you shouldn't keep distancing yourself from everyone. Tyler wouldn't want it. He'd want you to go out, get married, go to clubs, and have a social life. Just have some sort of life at least. Ally he's," Caroline took a deep breath, "Ally, he's dead."

Ally winced at the words and inhaled deeply trying to relax and stay calm. One of the things that saddened her the most was Caroline. In the last year Caroline had grown up a lot, but that wasn't a choice, it was forced upon her. She'd already lost Michael and then she lost Tyler, she'd been put through so much and she never once complained. Sometimes it was hard to believe she was only twelve.

"Ally, I know it hurts, it hurts so much but you've got to move on with your life. You don't have to forget; just try to talk to other people as well as me. I mean, my Mum misses you and I know that Aiden does as well even if he doesn't say anything."

Ally nodded her head in agreement but she didn't like the idea of having company. She spent time with Caroline because Caroline and her were closest to him and so they shared the same amount of pain. Also she had to help Caroline, she knew it, she just didn't know how.

"So, how are you, Caroline? Are things okay at school?" Ally asked, partly curious and partly to take her mind off things that she didn't want to think about but which she currently was.

"Um, good, I guess. Things are fine at school. It's just, well..." Caroline trailed off.

"You miss him?" Ally guessed, correctly.

"Yeah, I mean obviously I still see him but it's not the same, you know."

"Hang on, what do you mean you still see him?" Ally interrupted, thoroughly confused.

"Well, he is like Michael, I can see him as well, but they just aren't the same, I mean-"

"Wait up a minute. What do you mean you see him? Where? When?" Ally interrupted again.

"Well, I see him like I see you only he's slightly less solid and I see him anywhere and everywhere. Right now he's," Caroline scanned the graveyard. "There!"

Ally looked at the direction Caroline had pointed out but she couldn't see anything. There were gravestones after gravestones until you got to a stone bench in front of a willow tree. The leaves on the willow tree swayed in the wind and the bench was wet from the earlier rain but other than that there was nothing there.

"Oh, I see him!" Ally lied; unfortunately she had always been a bad lier.

"No you don't, you don't believe me either, but that's okay." Caroline replied, easily seeing through Ally.

Ally was about to reply but Caroline was already gone. She thought about what Caroline had said about having a social life. Ally would do anything to keep that girl happy so with a sigh she pulled out her phone and rang the once familiar number.

"Ally, is that you?"

"Yes, it's me."

"It's so good to hear from you Ally! We need to catch up."

**11****th**** September 2011**

Ten years had passed since that fatal day and once again Ally Craig was stood over Tyler's grave. She'd done as Caroline had requested and now she had a group of close friends and a steady boyfriend. She was surprised that it did make her happier most of the time. But sometimes the depression would hit so strongly that she wouldn't be sure if it would ever go. But it did, eventually. Although the depression came and went the pain never left. It was just a part of her know and she had learned to live around it.

"Ally!" a familiar voice called to her.

"Hi, Caroline, how are you?" Ally asked a 21 year old Caroline, it was hard to believe the years had passed so quickly.

"I'm good thanks, you?"

"Okay, what about Tyler?" Ally asked remembering nine years ago when Caroline said that she could still see him. But now Caroline's face fell slightly.

"I can't see him anymore. I haven't since my eighteenth birthday." She explained, quietly.

"I'm sorry." Ally said.

"Don't be, it's not your fault. I was thinking that maybe it's because I became an adult then or something."

"Maybe." Ally replied but she still wasn't sure if Caroline had seen him at all or if it had been her mind, sort of like wishful thinking.

"Anyway, what's life like for you?" Caroline asked and soon the two old friends were talking about their life and what had happened recently.

"I better go, see you!" Caroline said when dusk fell.

"Yeah, me too, bye!" Ally said but she was sad again. She hated this part of the day. It always felt so lonely no matter how many people are around you and if there is no-one with you then it's the worst time ever.

**11****th**** September 2071**

For the first time since 2002 it was the 11th September and Ally Craig was not stood watching over Tyler's grave. Every other year she'd be there without fail, but this year she was too tired and ill. Ally had wanted to go at first but after a lot of persuading from her best friend, Caroline, her husband and her children she agreed to stay at home.

Her husband knew about Tyler, she thought it was only fair, but he still loved her and, although it was nowhere near as strong as her love for Tyler, she did love her husband a lot. He had helped her heal and was a good man and that was all Ally could ask for.

Her children didn't know about Tyler, they just knew that she had been good friends with someone called Tyler who had died in the 9 11 bombing. Ally had considered telling them but her friends and husband thought that it would be weird for them to know that she had loved someone other than their father. Ally had two beautiful girls and one boy, even though they were adults now she still thought of them fondly as her babies, especially her youngest, Sarah.

Now, Ally sighed and closed her heavy eyes, she had had a full, happy life and now she was ready to be with the one she loved most, Tyler. Every time she thought his name she was overcome by such grief, but she comforted herself with the fact that she would be with him soon.

She struggled to open her eyes so that she could see the pictures of Caroline, Tyler, her family and herself which were on her bedside table. The second she managed to open them she gasped softly at what she saw. Tyler was there, slightly blurred around the edges like a picture out of focus, but other than that he looked exactly how she remembered him.

Suddenly, she remembered something Caroline had said to her many, many years ago.

"_Well, I see him like I see you only he's slightly less solid and I see him anywhere and everywhere. Right now he's," Caroline scanned the graveyard. "There!"_

Looking at Tyler now she knew that this was what Caroline had seen because he was slightly less solid but apart from that if she didn't know he was dead she wouldn't have looked at him twice.

Tyler opened his lips and spoke so softly that Ally had to concentrate to catch what he said.

"I'm here, you've seen me one last time. You can sleep forever now, Ally. You'll be with me soon, I promise."

Ally marvelled at how his voice sounded exactly as she remembered it. She smiled at him and whispered, "Tyler, stay with me, don't leave me."

He smiled back at her and Ally knew that meant he wouldn't even consider leaving. So she took one last look at her photos and Tyler and then closed her eyes for the last time. Tyler stood over her, watching and listening to her breathing become lighter and slower until it stopped all together.

He closed his eyes as he felt her small hand on his shoulder. He turned around and grinned at the smile on Ally's face. Finally after all these years they could be together again, forever.

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**There, what do you think? Personally I think it's a happy ending but when I told my friend this she looked at me like I was crazy, so please tell me what you think.**

**I hope you like it and if you are reading 'That Phone Call' I'm sorry for not updating in a while, I'll do that next, I promise! Please Review!**

**Elle F x**


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